Angela Foss

Each week in my job varies, but one thing that stays consistent is student contact and student support. Although I love technology I also love having direct contact with students and colleagues through my many roles at the college.

When I do academic advising I create a degree plan for the student and we work on their goals and any challenges or questions they have about school or their progress. I coordinate the tutoring program which involves hiring and evaluating tutors and managing day-to-day operations and schedules. I also am a member of several committees here at the college. There is a team approach to many projects and goals that the college is addressing and my engineering background is a real asset because teamwork and problem solving is crucial for success.

With relation to my computer engineering background there are many duties in my job that utilize these skills. More and more colleges and universities are offering services and courses online and my college is no different. I am developing online offerings for our learning support, which include online tutoring. This utilizes many different types of software and technology and users must work with many different system requirements. Depending on the task, I may need to do programming or web development to implement. Another online offering that I am working on is the development of an online New Student Orientation. This involves the development of curriculum and implementation and design in the college’s Learning Management System. Both projects require that I work with the IT and Educational Technology departments at my college very closely. In addition, my daily work requires that I also do data analysis through database tracking. Some of this involves programming and possibly script writing. The data collection and analysis is key to the assessment of the programs I am responsible for and some of the projects I am assigned to.

I have so much fun at my job. I love working with the students and helping them explore all of the possibilities for their future. I love sharing my school and work experience with others with the hopes to inspire them or spark an interest. And I love to create things! There are so many new and cool technologies out there today that aren’t just for recreation but can actually be used in a professional or educational setting. Going to college should be challenging but also fun and I’m excited to be a part of the advancement of education. I did not expect to end up working in education with my computer engineering degree and I may not work in education for the entirety of my career, but right now it is exactly where I want to be.